If you'd invested in: Huntsworth and Vectura

published 30 March 2018

If only...

Huntsworth (LSE: HNT) is a global media group providing marketing and medical communications services to healthcare clients. After a difficult few years following a major restructuring that saw it increasing its focus on the healthcare sector, the firm's shares have doubled over the past 12 months. Earlier this month Huntsworth reported solid 2017 results, during which sales rose by 9% to £197m, while pre-tax profit rocketed 54% higher to £24.4m. Free cash flow also increased, from £2.9m to £20.7m, giving support for a 15% hike in the total dividend.

Vectura Group (LSE: VEC) develops inhaled therapies for respiratory diseases. In the past year the firm has suffered blows from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Vectura is working with Hikma Pharmaceuticals on developing a generic replacement for rival GlaxoSmithKline's Advair asthma treatment, but the FDA withheld approval for the product last May. A launch is now unlikely to happen before 2020. This month Vectura also announced that annual losses grew from £40.1m in 2016 to £102.2m last year, after it wrote down the value of past acquisitions.

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Alice grew up in Stockholm and studied at the University of the Arts London, where she gained a first-class BA in Journalism. She has written for several publications in Stockholm and London, and joined MoneyWeek in 2017.